Morocco continues to appropriate Saharawi culture to dilute it in occupation. Translation into Hassanya of The Little Prince by Moroccan initiative

Original article in Spanish by Poemario por un Sahara Libre.

Morocco continues to appropriate Saharawi cultural symbols and elements in order to dilute Western Sahara into Morocco. The use of the Saharawi dress (melhfa and darraa) by Moroccan settlers is one of the many ways in which certain Saharawi cultural references are assumed as their own. This is how they are trying to assimilate as Moroccan many Saharawi characters and tales, such as in the case of the Shertat tales. They also try to seize historical Saharawi characters and, now, even the Hassanya language. It is a very dangerous work of cultural sabotage carried out by the Moroccan authorities, and that tries to distort the conflict by exercising a work of "cultural genocide".

"The Little Prince" translated into the Arabic dialect Hassaniya dialect of Western Sahara

EFE, 31st MAY, 2017

The famous work of Antoine de Saint-Exupery "The Little Prince" has been translated into the Arabic dialect Hassaniya, spoken in Western Sahara and Mauritania.

This is a Moroccan initiative, jointly carried out by the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), the Saint-Exupery Foundation and the Fosbucra Foundation, which promotes development projects in the part of the Sahara administered by Morocco, according to the CNDH today a statement.

The famous Saint-Exupery, one of the most translated books in the world (with 300 versions) will be distributed next week free of charge in Moroccan schools in all the Saharawi regions where Hassanya is spoken, including the Tarfaya region, outside the country of Western Sahara.

In fact, the distribution has been announced to coincide with the 90th anniversary of the voyage that Saint-Exupery made to Tarfaya (then called Cape Juby), where he resided for a few months as a delegate of the airline Aéropostale.

​Original article in Spanish by Poemario por un Sahara Libre.